Capitalism
is a system that has untoward repercussions for the masses of society.
Capitalism may create wealth, but it also, by dint of its nature,
creates gross inequalities that belie Adam Smith’s faith in an invisible
hand.

Editors James Lardner and David Smith have
compiled a book of essays, Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic
Divide in America and Its Poisonous Consequences,that
elaborates on how inequality permeates society and affects the masses of
people adversely.

The book describes a link between some
“elites” and the religious Right in an assault on middle and working
classes. The result has been $2 trillion in tax cuts mainly benefiting
ultra wealthy.

The inequalities are woven into the
American workplace where workers face an uphill battle to gain equality.
Lardner writes, “In American workplaces today workers can be compelled
to listen to presentations on the evils of unions but be forbidden to
meet for the purpose of forming one.”

Heather Boushey and Christian Weller
detail an ever-rising inequality. The odds of escaping this growing
disparity are daunting. Citing the economist Thomas Hertz, it was
estimated that a child born to parents in the bottom-earning quintile
had approximately a 7 percent chance to make it to the top quintile as
an adult; a child in the top quintile has a 42 percent chance of winding
up there.

In 2001, the richest 5 percent of
households in US held 59 percent of the wealth while the bottom 40
percent scrimped by with a measly 0.3 percent. The top one percent had
1500 times the wealth of the bottom 40 percent!

Barbara Ehrenreich claims the US is a
“morally polarized society.” Corporate USA is complicit in the
entrenchment of inequality. An example: “at some Wal-Mart stores,
employee orientation is partly about applying for food stamps and
welfare benefits”

Inequality is also established in academic
institutions. Race and class are both factors, but class appears to be
the important factor.

Students are faced with higher tuitions
and reduced choice. At the other end of the lifespan, seniors find
themselves stressed by disappearing pensions and increasing drug prices.

The crony capitalism of the system is most
prominently manifested at the top. Charles Lewis deplores the lack of
democracy that shuts out poorly financed political candidates: “The fact
is that it is impossible for a candidate with no money to beat an
incumbent, but impossible to raise money if you’re not an incumbent, is
the catch-22 that keeps the congressional reelection rate safely above
90 percent.”

“At today’s prices only two kinds of
people can run for federal office: millionaires and those able to tap
the fortunes of millionaires. … In fact, 40 percent of U.S. senators are
millionaires.”

The result is a plutocracy. Lewis sees US
“democracy” as caught in a “vicious cycle” where people don’t
participate in the process because politicians ignore their concerns,
and politicians feel free to ignore their concerns because they don’t
participate in the process.”

Christopher Jencks rails against the
market and calls for government oversight to correct for imbalances. He
notes, “Economic inequality is less pronounced in countries where the
constitutional system has few veto points, allowing the government of
the day to make fundamental changes. Rules that favor a multiparty
system rather than a two-party system also produce more equal economic
outcomes. So does proportional representation.”

Jonathan Rowe contends, “We will never
bridge the wealth gap in real -- as opposed to statistical -- terms
until we begin to address the enclosure of the commons.”

“No person created them, and no one should
be able to monopolize them or their fruits. … If the commons belong to
all of us, which it does, then the financial returns should come to all
of us as well.”

Rowe envisions a system where people are
taxed for what they take from the commons which would then be
redistributed among the people.

David Cay Johnston agrees that the tax
system needs reform. He finds the system riddled with loopholes
exploited by the rich. He provides one stultifying example of tax system
inequality:

And here is what is truly awful: if you or
a loved one gets sick or injured and you spend more than 7.5 percent of
your income on medical bills, your income taxes go up -- and the money
is explicitly used to help finance tax cuts for the rich.

The book discusses ways to bring about
greater equality, such as through a mass movement, to which “the biggest
obstacle … is one of cynicism and hopelessness … Just as bread won’t
rise without yeast, a movement cannot rise without hope.”

Robert Kuttner maintains government is
necessary to manage a social contract -- to tax the wealthy and
redistribute the wealth. There is a call to minimize the preponderant
influence of money in the political system, to reframe the progressivist
message in a “catchy, compelling way, and to maximize democratic
participation among citizens in middle and low socioeconomic strata.

Robert M. Franklin says, “When people no
longer believe that it is okay to live in a society where the Bill
Gateses, Donald Trumps, the Ted Turners, and the Waltons (I am referring
to the Wal-Mart Waltons, not the TV show family) ostentatiously display
their power while families are living in motel rooms and automobiles or
begging for quarters on the street, things can happen.”

Inequality Matters
represents the contributions of 26 contributors in painting a vivid and
disturbing picture of what inequality means, the dynamics of inequality,
and what can and should be done to address the inequality. Progressives
should arm themselves with the information presented in Inequality
Matters and act.